1

International Brotherhood of Magicians Ring 16

February 2019 www.ring16.com

A Few Words from the President

Jeffrey Day - President

Buried Beneath The Ice / Harry Houdini

With these frigid temperatures that have gripped the

South lately, it reminded me of how the escape artist,

Harry Houdini, had to endure the cold while trying to

keep his wits under water and try to survive the ice-cold

waters of the North. Below is a telling of an escape story

in Houdini’s own words in a biographical article he wrote

for Hearst’s in 1919 called “Nearly Dying for a Living.”

Here the location is Pittsburgh and, interestingly, it’s not a

handcuffed bridge jump, but an overboard box escape,

just like in the Tony Curtis movie. It’s fascinating, and

chilling, to hear the version as told by Houdini himself:

Although there is no supporting evidence of his “frozen

river escape”, you must hand it to the “handcuff king”, he

had quite the imagination.

“My Battery predicament, however, wasn’t quite as

terrifying as a situation in which I found myself in

Pittsburgh several years ago. During and engagement

there it had been advertised that on a certain day I should

be handcuffed and chained and placed in a box and

dropped into the river from a bridge.

Nature was unkind, however, and when the day came the

river had been frozen over to a depth of seven inches,

which, as a matter of fact, wasn’t surprising, as it was

midwinter. But ice-water never has had any terrors for

me, and a hole was cut in the ice just below the bridge and

everybody, including a crowd of several thousand of

persons, arrived on time.

With the handcuffs and chains in place, I was put into the

trunk, with in turn was bound with ropes and chains.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Notes from the VP

Bill Canaday—Vice President

Fellow Ring 16 Members:

It has been awhile since I recommended something

in our articles for our Newsletter. I always like

seeing reviews of tricks, routines, DVD'S, books,

etc. Now I can mention a purchase of mine; John

Bannon's Destination Zero. True, this has been out

a while, and I know there are a lot of experienced

sleight-of-hand Magicians and Mentalists in Ring

16'and there are Members like me as far as skill on

sleights, moves, go. Mr. Bannon really does a great

job in this book, and explains everything fully.

There are quite a bit of routines in this book, and I

am glad I got it. All of the routines are really good,

and if you are a sleight-of-hand performer, or like

myself and others, that really look for self-working

routines that play well, then you may want to pick

up a copy of this book. As a side note, I had some

brief correspondence with Mr. Bannon, and he is

really nice, and was helpful in helping me choose

something for my skill level. He told me that he

has been to Memphis, and enjoyed The Peabody

with The Ducks. A book that I feel will find a good

place in your collection. Hope to see you on

Tuesday! ♦♣♥♠

RING 16 FEBRUARY MEETING

Tuesday February 5th - 7pm

Memphis Botanic Garden

Valentine Magic & Mentalism

February 2019 Newsletter

2

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 (A Few Words from Our President)

Then the trunk was dropped into the river through the hole in the ice. The handcuffs and chains about my

arms and legs and the bound trunk offered no more than the usual difficulties, but when I found myself free of

them all I discovered that I had drifted with the current and when I attempted to rise my head bumped against

the seven inches of ice. Fully conscious of the seriousness of the situation I looked about in the hope that a

greater light might come through where the hole was and give me my directions. But there was no guiding

light.

Then I knew that I must breathe. I was under the water longer than the allotted time. And breathing meant that

I should drown and go on drifting for weeks and months. But as I had never before given up, I didn’t give up

then. Instead, I found an “air pocket” a space in which the ice seemed to curve upward, leaving an inch or

more of room between the surface of the water and the ice above. I lay flat on my back, tight up against the

ice, and breathed. Then I found that the water came in little intermittent waves and that by keeping my face

close against the ice I could move about and get and occasional breath. I still held in my hands the handcuffs

that I had removed from my wrists, and with these pressed against the ice I began a circular movement. And

suddenly I bobbed up through the hole, and the men reached down and lifted me out onto the ice, wrapped me

up and hurried me to my hotel.

The crowd that had come to see me and my assistants believed that I had been drowned and, although I didn’t

hear it, they say that a mighty cheer went up when I appeared.”

Houdini – Fox River Bridge Jump (Appleton, WI)

♦♣♥♠

January was the time again for us to

collect the Ring 16 Annual Dues.

January 8th Business Meeting—Kathy Kalagias

The January meeting of Ring 16 was well attended. Jeff Day,

President, discussed the importance of membership. How to

maintain your membership with the IBM, and how to build

membership. Jeff Day has been in the process of putting together

some brochures for us to give our guests. Putting on public shows

by Ring 16 was also mentioned and we will be discussing those

more in the upcoming meetings. Bill Canaday, Vice President,

discussed future lectures. Larry Dufrene, Treasurer, presented his

financial report.

Last month had many of our Ring 16 members performing magic

at various events around the Mid-South. Doug Green did some

strolling magic at the Magic of Memphis show by the Memphis

Symphony Orchestra with Magician Lyn Dillies. Rocky Yarbrough

and Joey Butler both performed at Christmas parties. Railgarten is

a bar and diner that has a volleyball court, ping pong, several

stages had several Magic Brunch events during the month of

December. Several Memphis magicians performed including

Grayson Smith, Mike Speros, Larry Clark, Jeff Day, and John

Campbell. Grayson could also be seen performing at the VA

Hospital. Jeff and Grayson performed at several events together

including a wedding at the Peabody Hotel, and a breakfast with

Santa.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

February 2019 Newsletter

3

January Meeting Magic Photos

Grayson Smith & Larry DuFrene

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 (JANUARY MEETING)

In addition to performing magic, Jeff Day performed a Victorian style magic show at A Victorian Holiday with

Opera Memphis held at the Dixon Gallery. Kathy Kalagias assisted during several of Jeff’s performances.

Michael Clayton performed at LeMoyne–Owen College.

Magicians have been in the news at lot lately including Memphis Magicians. Jeff Day was in Storyboard

Memphis, The Daily Memphian, and is also in the January issue of Vanish Magazine. There was also a

great article about Larry Hass in Memphis Magazine. Larry Hass is the Dean of McBride's Magic and Mystery

School.

Grayson Smith went to see to see “Magical Life - an evening with Lawrence Hass.” Upcoming Shows for this

month include Bradley Fields at Bartlett Performing Arts Center on January 19. Also on the 19th and again on

the 26th Jeffrey Day will be performing his one man show, "The Mesmerist" at the historic Woodruff-Fontaine

House.

The theme for this month was “magic you received for the holidays”. ♦♣♥♠

February 2019 Newsletter